NEWS: Abbott Mead TV spots show BT’s caring side

BT unveils a pounds 1.5 million ‘hearts and minds’ advertising campaign

next week that focuses on the telecoms company’s role as a caring

corporate citizen.

Four new commercials, directed by Paul Arden and created by Abbott Mead

Vickers BBDO, attempt to show BT’s contribution to society.

The campaign departs from the previous corporate productions that began

with the ‘help the world keep talking’ ad, featuring Stephen Hawking, in

1993 and continued in 1995 with the ‘blindfold’ spot, starring the

father and son team, Peter and Sir Edmund Hillary.

The campaign breaks nationally on Monday and will run until March. The

films, shot in Blackpool and using local people rather than actors, link

a series of real-life snapshots which highlight BT’s contribution to the

ChildLine charity and its understanding of the deaf and elderly. The

commercials are backed by Elvis Presley’s classic track, Always on my

Mind, and each spot finishes with the tagline: ‘You are always on our

mind.’

According to Jeremy Miles, group account director for BT at AMV: ‘The

objective of the advertising is to demonstrate to the general public,

opinion formers and shareholders alike that BT does a great deal for a

lot of different people. We wanted to provide them with a rounded

picture of the company.’

He added: ‘Every time a story is written in the press about BT’s

financial results the only story told is how much money BT makes a

minute. We wanted to tell how people benefit from BT’s activities.’

Commenting on BT’s involvement with projects such as ChildLine, Jackie

Kavanagh, head of corporate campaigns at BT, said: ‘The breadth of BT’s

involvement in the community is not widely known or understood. However,

when people are told about the different ways that BT is contributing to

Britain they are surprised.’

The ads were created by Damon Collins and Mary Wear and produced through

Arden Sutherland-Dodd. Media is handled by IDK Media.

This article was first published on Campaign